The experienced ace played 31 times for the O’s during the 2016/17 season and is still fondly remembered by the E10 faithful

Ex-Leyton Orient midfielder Michael Collins has taken his first steps into management by accepting the role as head coach at Bradford City.

The 32-year-old had been the under-18s coach at Valley Parade since last summer, but this morning was handed the reins of the first-team in League One.

Collins only spent a short amount of time at Orient, but made a positive impression in his 31 appearances for the O’s in the 2016/17 campaign.

It was a disastrous season for the Brisbane Road outfit, which resulted in relegation from League Two, but the professionalism and effort of the former Huddersfield Town midfielder ensured he is fondly remember by fans of the east Londoners.

He departed E10 to take up the role as youth-team boss at Bradford City and to move back to his Yorkshire home after seven months at Orient.

At the time, Collins spoke about how it was one of the hardest decisions he has had to make in his career, but it has paid off.

The one-time Scunthorpe Town captain did combine his coaching role at Bradford with a part-time playing deal with National League outfit Halifax Town and did battle with O’s in January, but has now left the Shaymen to take up his new job with City.

Collins, when speaking to the official club website, said: “I’ve been working towards this for a lot of years now.

“Even when I was playing at Oxford I was coaching locally and when I was at Leyton Orient I’d be in at the Spurs training ground as often as I could.

“I’m honoured (co-owners) Edin Rahic and Stefan Rupp have entrusted me with the head coach role, but we truly are a team here and I can’t stress that enough.

“Martin Drury is one of the best coaches I’ve ever worked with and Greg Abbott’s experience is invaluable for us both.

“We’ve all been fortunate enough to have had the chance to observe the previous managers at the club and we’ve seen first-hand the way they worked. We can take a lot of positives from what we’ve seen.

“It also helps that Greg, Martin and I all know the training ground set-up very well too, so there won’t be any surprises when we get started for pre-season.”

Orient fans will hope their former player Collins can do well in his new role and do battle with his old club in the not too distant future.

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